Friday, May 16, 2008

Free State Hiker Hostel

I put a permalink to my "schedule" in the sidebar. Makes it easier for my mom to find I'm sure!

'm finally dry! I'll give a quick run-down of my first few days hiking.

Day 1 (5/14): Got up, had breakfast, packed my pack, decided that I needed new stuff sacks so I got them at the outfitter and repacked my pack, went to the ATC headquarters and got my picture taken and left with a handful of strawberries toward the trail. Got on the trail. Went a couple of miles and started getting tired, went a bit farther with Time Travelor. Stopped for lunch and sent a text to the blog. Hiked the rest of the way to the Ed Garvey Shelter, stopping at every blaze for a drink/break whenever I had to go uphill. 6.4 miles hiked, made it to the shelter with plenty of time to relax and make dinner. There with Breezer, Kirby, Cookie, Skippy, Emily, and some people tenting. We were all in bed by 8:45pm (I wasn't tired yet). I woke up in the wee hours of the morning to a mouse chewing on my hair (I slept in the shelter).

Day 2 (5/15): Up at 5:45am. Made/ate oatmeal, packed and going by 7am. Hiked much better today. Fewer breaks and faster miles. Stopped at a state park and took a 45 minute break with Emily (she was waiting for a ride). Then played leap-frog with Breezer for the rest of the day. Ended up at Dalgren Camping area at about 2pm, hiked 10.9 miles. There were hot showers! Chris, Andrew and Champ (dog) showed up later and then another couple doing a section SOBO. We hung out the rest of the afternoon. I slept in my hammock for the first time. It was comfortable, and since it started raining soon after I went to bed (9pm) I am glad to say it was dry. I was woke up about 4am by a critter of some sort nosing around below me, I tried to ignore it, but since my pack was on the ground below me I got up which scared it off. My food was all hung in a tree out of reach!

Day 3 (5/16): Woke up 5:40 and it was still raining. Moved everything into the bathroom to pack it up. Ate a tortilla+pb for breakfast and still didn't get going til 7:45. I left with Chris, Andrew and Champ. They were planning on hiking 19 miles today so I thought it would be good to keep pace with them. My shoes were dry for maybe the 1st mile, then I had wet feet the rest of the time. My pack cover worked great and I had my rain jacket on. My hat was also great in keeping the water off my face and neck. Pants were damp, but not too bad. It rained for about the first 8 miles, then mostly let up (just showering a bit here and there to keep us wet). We made it 13.7 miles by 2:30. I stopped here at a hostel and they moved on. I am doing laundry, ordered food and hanging out now. I need to figure out when/where to do a resupply. I might try to do a small one in the morning. My hiker appetite is only starting to kick in. I just downed a bag of fries and a burrito (I was hungry enough that I didn't notice it had mushrooms til I was half done and didn't care until I was 3/4 done) and am getting ready to dig into the 2nd burrito (no mushrooms, only beans and rice). Yesterday I was having to force myself to eat enough, I think I managed 2500 calories. It is less of a problem today.

The miles are getting easier! I only have one blistery looking spot on my foot...I'll take care of it. And I've been able to shower every day so far (this might be the last one for a while). I'm a full day ahead of schedule and am looking forward to seeing what is ahead on the trail. I expect it will be more trees and rocks.

Oh, I saw a deer, lots of chipmunks, tons of bugs including huge bumblebees, a bunny, and more bugs. Saw some ticks, but not on me.